

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE OPENING DOOR SERIES 


UNCLE DAVIE’S CHILDREN 


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Edited by 

MARY V. WORSTELL 

THE LITTLE TAILOR OF THE WINDING 
WAY. By Gertrude Crownfield 

POLLY OF THE WISHING RING. By Mar- 
garet Johnson 

POLLY’S GARDEN. By Helen W. Banks 

UNCLE DAVIE’S CHILDREN. By Agnes Mc- 
Clelland Daulton 






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“And that’s for Uncle Davie.” 


UNCLE DAVIE’S 
CHILDREN 


BY 

agnes McClelland daulton 

»* 

AUTHOR OF “WINGS AND STINGS,” “THE 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A BUTTERFLY,” ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

WILLY POGANY 


Nefo garfc 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1920 

All rightt rturvid 



Copyright, 1920, 

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 


Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1920. 



MAii j I 


1920 


Norfooob IPress 

J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 


©CU56G293 


PREFACE 


The writer for children knows he has ever to deal 
with the stern moralist. The evil-doer must be cir- 
cumvented and virtue must be rewarded if the story is 
to be accepted as true to life ! There can be no com- 
promise since the small critic has but one standard : 
justice tempered mildly with mercy. 

Moreover, the writer knows that precedent looms 
large in the child’s story, and that certain moldy, but 
adored, stage properties are always desirable : such as 
the lonely orphan, the sudden good fortune, and best 
beloved, the Wicked Uncle ; and knowing these things 
he can laugh pityingly at the critic who pronounces his 
plot old. “ Old ! ” Oh, no! Antique, classic, and 
therefore precious in its very decrepitude, for the true 
child loathes the new, the original ! He would hear 
the same story again and yet again. 

The child wants the tale moral, but without the 
moral ; and if there is such a thing in “ Uncle Davie’s 
Children ” it surely crept in through the back door. 
I never intended it to be there. I did, however, I 
confess, take pleasure in providing an ideal Adopted 
Uncle to offset the Wicked Uncle — that seemed but 
fair. If it seems that I have insisted too much upon 


VI 


Preface 


love, let me say that I believe that love is to the child 
exactly what sunlight is to the flower. It is only in the 
full effulgence of love that the delicate petals of a child’s 
personality are able to unfold until the golden heart 
lies revealed to a rejoicing world. 

There are, perhaps, many kinds of love, but I am 
thinking of that understanding gentle-heartedness that 
seeks to develop the child as he is ; that has no de- 
sire to change the buttercup into the daisy, nor yet the 
lily into a rose. David Marshall might add tenderness 
to the smile and set a sparkle in the tear, but he would 
leave Patty as he found her — an April Girl. 

Surely a happy hour in childhood with a beloved 
story is one of the sweetest memories we carry through 
life ; so if my little tale can but leave upon some mind 
such an imprint I shall be satisfied ; yes, quite satisfied. 


UNCLE DAVIE’S 
CHILDREN 

CHAPTER I 
Stubbs Home 

“ Oh, goodness me, it just won't 
curl ! ” complained Patty, standing on 
tiptoe to take another peep at the 
lock of red hair she was fiercely brush- 
ing around her slim forefinger. “ Oh, 
dear ! Miss Pettigrew says folks always 
take to curls and dimples. I wish they 
wanted freckles,” and Patty turned up 
her nose at the face she saw peeping 
out at her from the looking-glass. 

It was a freckled little face, but it 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


had brown eyes that danced with fun, 
and a red mouth that curled with 
laughter at the littlest chance. At an 
orphan asylum chances for being jolly 
weren’t easy to find; but now! — Patty 
caught her breath and brushed harder 
than ever at the very thought of it. 

Miss Pettigrew was down in the par- 
lor telling the waiting group how they 
must always be good children, and grow 
up to be an honor to Stubbs Home, 
and all the time she talked, Miss Petti- 
grew had her arm about Lina, and she 
never once missed Patty. 

Lina, smoothing down her white 
frock, and tossing back her curls under 
her pretty hat, wondered that Patty 
hadn’t been missed. She wondered, 
too, that Patty didn’t hurry down, for 
Captain Kenneth might come with his 










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i. 



































































. 




























































“ So this is what’s keeping you ! ” 



Stubbs Home 


3 


’bus any minute now. Just at that 
moment Miss Pettigrew started to 
count them ! 

Miss Pettigrew was tall and thin, and 
quick on her feet, and it didn’t take 
her long to rush up the stairs and into 
the big bare dormitory, where Patty, 
her eyes filled with tears, was staring at 
herself in the murky mirror. 

“ Well ! ” gasped Miss Pettigrew. 
“ So this is what’s keeping you ! I 
thought I knew all your faults — hav- 
ing had you under my eyes for twelve 
years — laughing one minute, crying 
the next ; but I never once suspected 
you of vanity ! ” 

Patty stood silent, but the tears in 
her eyes suddenly slipped down her 
cheeks. 

« That’s it now, — go to sniffling ! 


4 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


I don’t suppose it’s sorrow at leaving 
Stubbs Home. If it is, you can spare 
your tears! You’ll be back! But 
Captain Kenneth always thinks he 
knows best. We’ll see, my beauty! 
Now, do that hair up in a tight braid 
— tight , do you hear ? And get down 
with the rest ! ” And Miss Pettigrew 
went downstairs again, for Captain 
Kenneth was now at the door with 
the ’bus. 

Patty was glad that Doctor Stubbs 
was too busy talking to some strange 
ladies to notice her as she hurried past 
him. 

“ These children, ten boys and 
twelve girls — we have two hundred 
in the institution — are being taken 
away to find homes,” the doctor was 
saying. His gray beard wagged on his 


Stubbs Home 


5 


chin as he talked, in a way that always 
made Patty want to laugh — Doctor 
Stubbs’ beard had always been such a 
comfort to Patty. But she couldn’t 
laugh to-day, she could only keep 
saying “ Never , never , never ! ” 

Meanwhile the doctor boomed on : 
“We get an order for one or two chil- 
dren at a certain place in the country, 
and instead of sending only two, we 
send on Captain Kenneth with a little 
party, for, you see, people catch the 
fever. Seeing a neighbor adopt a child 
why shouldn’t the next family ? The 
pretty, smart ones are picked up first, 
of course. See that child with the 
long brown curls ? That’s Lina — 
she’ll be snatched up at once, Miss 
Pettigrew says. Indeed, we hope to 
place Lina in some home of wealth 


6 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


— ” Then the doctor’s eyes fell upon 
Patty, who had just taken the end 
seat in the ’bus. Her face grew pale 
under the doctor’s glance. What if 
he should decide not to send her ? 
“ Ahem ! ” said the doctor, — but just 
at that instant the driver cracked his 
whip, and at his cheery “ Git-ep ! ” 
away rattled the old omnibus. 

Captain Kenneth, fat and jolly, 
looked down the double row of boys 
and girls and smiled approvingly. 

“ How far are we going, Captain 
Ken ? ” the children fairly bubbled 
into speech. - — “ How long will it 
take ? ” — And, “ Oh, please, do you 
suppose anybody will want me ? ” — 
“ Or me ? ” — And, “ Oh, I hope I can 
live on a farm ! ” — “ I hope my new 
father will keep a horse ! ” — “ Oh, 


Stubbs Home 


7 


I hope my new mama will wear a silk 
dress every day ! ” — this last was from 
Lina. — « Oh, I hope mine will have 
brown eyes. My own mama did ! ” 

It was enough to deafen one, but 
Captain Ken only laughed and an- 
swered as fast as he could. 

They were going to a beautiful little 
town among the mountains called Clear 
Spring, he told them. There were 
good, kind people there — mothers 
and fathers for little boys and girls 
who hadn’t any ; for some of them, 
surely ; for all of them, perhaps, — - 
he hoped so. They would reach Clear 
Spring next day. Yes, they would go 
to a real hotel, and have breakfast, 
and then to a church, where the 
fathers and mothers would come to 
choose their children. 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


At this minute Captain Kenneth 
signaled the ’bus to stop before a little 
white house. At the gate stood a boy 
with a satchel, and beside him a little 
brown-haired lady with a sweet face. 
When Captain Ken came up, she 
put the boy’s hand into his, and then 
she ran up the path and into the 
house, without once looking back. 

Captain Kenneth opened the door 
of the long ’bus, and the boy got in. 
His face was white, and his lips were 
pressed tightly together. 

“You shall sit by our Patty,” said 
Captain Kenneth in his jolly way. 
“ I’ve known her ever since she was a 
baby. This, Patty, is Jamie Allen, 
and I’ve known him ever since he was 
a baby.” That was all, and then they 
were off again. 


Stubbs Home 


9 


Not one word did Patty say to 
Jamie, nor Jamie to Patty, and yet, 
as they stole little glances at each 
other, neither of them felt quite so 
desolate. 


CHAPTER II 


The Choosing 

Getting all those boys and girls 
settled in the train wasn’t the easiest 
thing in the world, yet Captain Ken- 
neth did it, and once again Patty 
found herself stowed away in a seat 
with Jamie. Now that everybody was 
busy talking, they, too, began a con- 
versation — or rather Jamie did, for 
Patty had been too busy stealing little 
glances at him to think of talking. 

“It was hard to leave my mother ! ” 
he said to Patty, as the train began to 
move. “ Mother felt dreadfully to let 
me go, too, but she has to go to Eng- 


The Choosing 1 1 

land, where my grandmother is very 
sick, and she couldn’t afford to take 
me. Captain Kenneth knew my father 
— he died when I was little — so the 
Captain said he would try to get me a 
good home, where they would keep 
me while mother is away.” 

“ And if he can’t ? ” asked Patty 
eagerly. 

“ Then he will take me back with 
him to Stubbs Home to stay till 
mother comes home.” 

« Oh, oh ! ” sighed Patty, « it must 
be lovely to have a mother ! ” Then, 
after a bit, she added, “ If I ever get 
one, I — - 1 do hope she’ll have big 
blue eyes and golden hair, and wear a 
white dress and blue ribbons ! ” 

“Pooh!” said Jamie, but his eyes 
twinkled, so Patty didn’t mind, « pooh, 


12 Uncle Davie’s Children 

I should think she’d look like a doll in 
a shop window. I like my kind best. 
She’s pretty, my mother is — ” then 
Jamie stopped to swallow hard. 

Patty, leaning suddenly toward 
Jamie, whispered: 

« Don’t you ever tell ! I didn’t have 
any mother, ever ; nor any father ! A 
man found me on the church steps, a 
weeny-teeny baby in a basket, and he 
took me to Stubbs Home. I had on a 
white dress, and a white silk bag was 
tied to my wrist, and it had my 
mother’s wedding ring in it, and a note 
that said my name was Patty and to 
please take good care of me. Nobody 
ever wanted me for their little girl, 
because I had freckles and red hair, 
and no name but Patty. But I’ve a 
last name now. I chose one this 


The Choosing 1 3 

morning. When a mother asks me 
what my name is I shall say ‘ Patty 
Church,’ and it isn’t any story, for 
didn’t they find me on the church 
steps ? You won’t tell, will you, 
Jamie ? ” 

“ No,” hesitated Jamie — he had 
great respect for truth, but he did feel 
sorry for Patty. « I suppose you could 
choose a name if you wanted to. But 
why don’t you want to go back to 
Stubbs Home ? ” 

“ Because,” whispered back Patty, “ I 
hate Stubbs Home. The minister says 
it’s wicked to hate, but I guess he 
never was a baby in a basket that grew 
up to be red-haired and freckled.” 

“ Why, I think your hair is pretty,” 
said Jamie, looking at the thick, soft 
braid that hung over Patty’s shoulder. 


14 Uncle Davie’s Children 

“ Pretty ! ” gasped Patty, her eyes 
round with astonishment. 

“ Why, yes, and your eyes are a 
dancy brown. I’ll bet my mother 
would choose you quicker than any 
girl in this car.” 

“ I pretty ! — Do — do you think,” 
asked Patty breathlessly, “ somebody 
may take me ? Oh, I’d be so good ! 
I wouldn’t laugh, and I wouldn’t 
cry — ” and then, to Jamie’s astonish- 
ment, her head went down on her arm, 
and he saw that she was shaking with 
sobs. 

“ Of course someone will take you ! 
Don’t you cry ! ” begged Jamie. « I 
— I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” 

“ Hurt my feelings ! ” cried Patty, 
looking up all a-sparkle of smiles be- 
hind her tears. “ Oh, I like you, Jamie 


The Choosing 1 5 

Allen, and I hope you’ll get the best 
home in the whole world ! ” 

But the next day it looked as if 
neither Jamie nor Patty would have 
any sort of home offered them. Even 
Captain Kenneth’s heart failed him, as 
he saw child after child chosen to go 
happily and proudly away by the side 
of some new parent, till at last just 
Jamie and Patty sat alone in a pew in 
the empty church. 

Miss Pettigrew was right. Lina was 
snatched up instantly by a large lady, 
with a rustling black silk, and pink 
roses on her bonnet. If her face was 
somewhat red and her voice sharp, 
Lina didn’t notice it ; she was too de- 
lighted with the glitter of the gold 
chain about her neck ; indeed, she 
almost forgot to say good-by to Patty, 


1 6 Uncle Davie’s Children 

but at the last moment she flew back 
to say, « Oh, Patty, I hope you’ll find 
a mother, but if you don’t, tell Miss 
Pettigrew I’ve got a lovely one, and 
she has two horses to her carriage, and 
everything ! ” 

But Patty, as she kissed Lina, was 
saying to herself: “Never, never, 
never ! ” more desperately than ever. 

All the time the choosing had been 
going on, a big man had sat in a pew 
near the door, a man that everybody 
seemed to like, for each child seemed 
in some mysterious way to be brought 
to him before the choice was settled. 
The one exception was Lina ; the 
large lady consulted no one. The 
man’s eyes followed her somewhat anx- 
iously as she hurried away leading her 
new little girl by the hand. 


*7 


The Choosing 

Of course everyone wanted hand- 
some Jamie until they learned that he 
had a mother living and needed a home 
only for a time — that he was loaned 
and not given. But no one, after see- 
ing Patty’s thin little hands, and her 
delicate, slender body, and the light in 
her brown eyes, wanted to undertake 
her. 

« She’s too ’pindling to be of much 
good for work,” muttered the woman 
who had taken Lina. “ And that red 
hair — she’s got too much spirit ! ” 

Somehow Jamie did not feel half so 
sorry for himself as he did for Patty. 
It seemed to him as if he could hear 
her heart ache, as she sat there, brave, 
bright-eyed, watching one after another 
of the children depart. 

As the last foster parent went away 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


with happy Johnny Cole, the big man 
in the back pew got up and came to 
where Jamie and Patty were sitting. 
He was no older than Captain Ken, 
with a close-clipped brown beard and 
kind, gentle eyes, and, it seemed to 
Patty, the pleasantest voice in the 
world. “ Well, children,” he said, 
“we’ve had a long wait; but now it’s 
my turn to choose, and I’ll take you 
two, — that is, if you think you’d care 
to be Uncle Davie’s children.” 

“ Oh, we’d — we’d love it ! ” cried 
Patty, clasping her hands. 



“We’d love it — we’d love it.” 








































. * 
































































































































CHAPTER III 

Home at Last 

It was nearly eight o’clock, but in 
June the sunlight lingers long in Clear 
Spring Valley. Overlook Mountain 
stood high and stately, wrapped in a 
purple haze; at its foot lay fields and 
meadows, and then came the river, 
gurgling and whirling among the gray 
rocks. 

A road, arched with maple trees, fol- 
lowed the river round a sharp bend 
where there was a red mill, a roaring 
dam, and a long stretch of quiet water 
reflecting the mountain. There it 

found a quaint little Dutch farmhouse, 
19 


20 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


standing in the midst of a shady, grassy 
lawn. There were white curtains at 
the cottage windows, and the wide 
Dutch door stood open, and in it was 
a little old woman peering anxiously 
from under her hand. 

“ Seems Davie’s awful late,” said the 
little old lady to herself. “ Maybe,” 
and she laughed softly, “ maybe it took 
him longer choosin’ his children than 
it did choosin’ a grandmother. La, 
I’ll never forget that day he drove up 
to the poorhouse, and I was a-settin’ 
there on the verandy, shellin’ peas for 
the matron ! ‘ Mis’ Wilson,’ says he to 

me, ‘ I just heard this mornin’ you was 
here, or I’d a-got here sooner. Get 
your things, please, and come home 
with me,’ says Davie, as coaxin’ as if 
my heart wasn’t ready to jump out 


Home at Last 


21 


with gladness. < I need a grandmother 
to take care of me,’ says Davie, — but 
there comes the team now 1 ” 

Sure enough, down the road trotted 
Rix and Dexter with the spring wagon. 
Jamie sat on the front seat with Uncle 
Davie, and Patty was glad of it, for she 
needed all the wide seat to bounce 
about in for very joy. Was all this 
beauty in the same world with Stubbs 
Home ? Had these green meadows 
and woods any relation to its dusty 
backyard with its one poor tree ? As 
for the mountains — Patty caught her 
breath ! Just then she saw the little 
white farmhouse near the turn in the 
road. 

« Oh . . . oh . . . Uncle Davie ! ” 
she hesitated over the name. 

“Yes, Patty,” came Uncle Davie’s 


22 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


cheery voice — he had just put the 
lines into Jamie’s eager hands. 

“ Oh, I just wanted you to look at 
that dear little house ! ” cried Patty. 
“ It’s like a storybook house among the 
trees, and it has roses everywhere — 
and, oh, the sweet little old lady ! ” 

Then Uncle Davie laughed a mellow 
chuckle that did one good to hear. 

“ That ! Why, Patty, my child, 
don’t you know?” Just as if she 
could ever have dreamed of anything 
half so lovely. “ Why, that is your new 
home and your new grandmother.” 

« Oh — oh ! ” cried Patty, radiantly. 

“ Gee ! ” broke out Jamie, as he, 
too, caught the first glimpse of their 
new home. “ Don’t I wish mother 
could see that ! ” 

There at the gate wriggled Rover, 


Home at Last 


2 3 


and old Betty came mewing down the 
garden path ; it seemed as if even the 
roses were nodding a welcome home. 

“ Run in and see your granny, Patty 
dear,” said Uncle Davie, “and help her 
set the table, while Jamie and I put 
away the horses. We’re all as hungry 
as hunters.” Up the path ran Patty 
to be clasped in Granny’s arms, quite 
as if she were a real little granddaughter 
home from school. 

“ Oh, my dear ! ” cried Granny. 
“ Davie never once said a girl ! He 
said two boys, maybe, and now I am 
to have a little daughter again, and so 
sweet and pretty ! What is your name, 
my child ? ” 

“ Patty Church,” said Patty, hiding 
her face in Granny’s neck. 

“ Patty Church ! ” cried Granny. 


24 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


“ What a pretty name that is ! But 
come, honey, lay off your hat and we’ll 
get tea. Davie does lots of the cookin’, 
handy as any woman and always savin’ 
me ; but now you and me will do 
many a thing to save him. Bless his 
kind heart ! ” 

It seemed to both Patty and Jamie 
as if there never was such a pretty 
sight as that supper table. Uncle 
Davie had hustled in and gotten him- 
self into a big green gingham apron 
that buttoned down in front, and then 
such flying around, such sputtering of 
fragrant ham, such delicious odor of 
coffee, such boiling of potatoes that 
burst their brown jackets to show their 
white waistcoats ! And there was a 
pat of golden butter, and biscuits, and 
there were crisp cucumbers, and scarlet 


Home at Last 


2 5 


radishes, there were glasses of rich milk, 
and big round cookies, and heaped up 
dishes of fragrant wild strawberries ; 
the cream for them was so thick that 
Granny had to dip it with a spoon. 
And this was all set out on a snowy 
cloth, in pretty dishes edged with green 
bands, and a great bowl of roses stood 
in the center of the table. 

Oh, that low-ceiled dining-room 
with its windows that looked out upon 
the mountain and the river ! Did it 
ever hold such gladness, such thank- 
fulness as when Uncle Davie bent his 
head and said, as if the dear Lord were 
right in the room : “ Father, make us 
a happy little family. Let us love each 
other and be kind. Make us good, 
and full of cheer — Granny, and Patty, 
and Jamie, and me. Amen ! ” 


26 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


« Oh ! ” said Patty, looking at Uncle 
Davie and smiling through tears. “ I 
just wish every little orphan girl and 
boy in this world could find an Uncle 
Davie ! ” 

« An’ every lonely old woman ! ” 
added Granny, as she poured the 
coffee. 

“ Gee ! ” said Jamie, “ I wish mother 
could see me ! ” That was all he could 
say just then, for Uncle Davie fad 
heaped his plate, and Jamie was hun- 
gry, but it wasn’t long until his merry 
tongue was loosened. 

Now Uncle Davie, being a bachelor, 
and knowing no better, hadn’t the 
least idea that boys and girls should be 
seen and not heard — as you would 
have known if you had seen the in- 
terest he took in Jamie’s football and 


Home at Last 


27 


baseball stories, and how mother said 
this, and mother said that. Why, it 
seemed as if Uncle Davie liked to hear 
everything. And Granny’s gentle little 
ripple of a laugh filled every pause. 

“ Ain’t it good to hear them talk, 
Davie ? ” asked Granny, pouring the 
thick cream generously over the dishes 
of strawberries. “ My, I feel twenty 
years younger, Davie, and you — 
you look like a boy to-night, with 
your eyes a-shinin’ so.” 

“ Boy ? Not much ! ” laughed Uncle 
Davie. “ I’m the uncle of this family 
— dignified and proper — and to- 
morrow my nephew, Jamie, is going 
to help me plow corn, and my little 
niece, Patty, is going to wash the 
dishes, and let Granny teach her to 
make biscuits.” 


28 


Uncle Davie's Children 


« Oh, we’ll love it — won’t we, 
Jamie ? ” cried Patty. 

“Of course,” said Jamie, “and after 
we get the corn plowed, Uncle Davie, 
let’s go fishing.” 

« That’s just what I was thinking,” 
laughed Uncle Davie. “And Granny 
and Patty may bring our supper down 
to the river and we’ll have a picnic.” 

“ Oh, goody,” cried Patty. “ I 
never was at a picnic in my whole 
life. Don’t I wish Lina were here ! ” 
Then for the first time Uncle Davie’s 
face grew sober and he said to Granny, 

« Lina is the little girl Miss Gill 
chose.” 

“ Mattie Gill ! Oh, tut, tut ! ” and 
Granny, too, grew grave. 

“ Lina is so pretty,” and Patty’s tone 
was so wistful that Uncle Davie turned 


Home at Last 


29 


to her at once. “ She’s got long 
brown curls, and the pinkest cheeks I 
Miss Pettigrew always said a rich lady 
would snatch her up first thing, but, 
oh,” Patty fairly sparkled, “ I tell you 
I’m glad nobody chose me, or I might 
have missed being Uncle Davie’s little 
girl ! ” 

That night, as Uncle Davie was 
locking the door in the dark hall, 
suddenly two slim little hands seized 
his arm and a little voice whispered : 

“Oh, Uncle Davie, I told Granny 
my name was Patty Church, and — 
and it isn’t. I was just found on a 
church step.” 

« My dear,” said Uncle Davie, and 
he held her close, “ that was a beauti- 
ful place to be found ! ” 


CHAPTER IV 


Happy Days 

Next morning, when Patty opened 
her sleepy eyes, she thought she was 
still in a beautiful dream. She had 
been awakened by a vireo singing in 
the maple, instead of the noisy clang- 
ing of the bell that had waked her all 
her life. It was a quaint little room 
in which Patty found herself, bare and 
plain, but to Patty, after the long dor- 
mitory with its fifty white iron beds, 
this was so sweet that she just threw 
it a kiss, and stretched out both arms 
to it. 

“You blessed little room!” she 


30 


Happy Days 3 1 

whispered. “I’ll just love you forever- 
more ! ” 

When she hurried downstairs, she 
found Jamie coming in with a great 
bowl of wild strawberries that he had 
gathered in the meadow with the dew 
still upon them. 

“ Hello, Patty ! ” he whispered. 
“ This is the dandiest place you ever 
saw! Talk about your parks ! Well, 
I’ll take daisy meadows and trout 
streams for mine ! It’s awfully early. 
Granny and Uncle Davie aren’t up 
yet.” 

« Let’s set the table,” whispered 
back Patty, “ and clean the berries, 
and, oh, we’ll get daisies and butter- 
cups for the bowl, and surprise 
Granny !” 

« Heigho ho!” cried Uncle Davie, 


32 Uncle Davie’s Children 

as he appeared at the open door half 
an hour later. “ Early birds I have 
caught, as I live ! And how did you 
sleep, my robins ? ” 

« Oh, Uncle Davie, I just love my 
little room,” began Patty. 

“Just you wait, my dear ! ” chuckled 
Uncle Davie. « I’ve been writing a 
letter. See what happens — well, let 
me see — next Thursday afternoon ! ” 

“ Oh, oh ! ” and Patty skipped clear 
around the table, “ a surprise ! Isn’t 
that lovely ! ” 

But as for that, every hour and 
every moment was a lovely surprise at 
Uncle Davie’s house. Jamie came in 
at noon as proud as a peacock, because 
Uncle Davie had said that he was 
going to be able to plow a straight 
furrow; and Uncle Davie was going to 


Happy Days 33 

teach him French and Latin and all 
sorts of things; for Uncle Davie had 
gone to college and Jamie intended 
to go, too, some day. 

Just then Uncle Davie caught a 
wistful look in Patty’s eyes, though 
that minute she was taking a pan of 
biscuits out of the oven — biscuits she 
had baked all herself under Granny’s 
direction. 

“ Always two in every class, Jamie 
boy,” said Uncle Davie, buttoning on 
his green apron. “ You shall learn to 
bake biscuits ; I’m mighty proud of 
mine, — and see! Patty’s are beautiful. 
Well done, little girl ! Patty shall 
study Latin right along with you, 
Jamie, and anything else I can teach 
her. We’ll set up a school in the 
parlor this winter. There’s a big fire- 

D 


34 Uncle Davie’s Children 

place in there and we will study and 
read together in the evening.” 

“ Davie,” said Granny, wistfully, 
“ don’t you remember you said you’d 
let me teach you to knit, so when you 
get to be an old man you can use the 
‘ pricks ’ like a Scotchman ? ” 

“ So I did, Granny,” laughed Uncle 
Davie, “ and next winter you shall 
teach us all to knit.” 

“ My ! I just wish Lina could come 
to our school,” said Patty, and again 
Uncle Davie and Granny looked 
anxious. 

There was plenty of work at Uncle 
Davie’s ; but it really seemed such 
beautiful work ! Perhaps it was Uncle 
Davie’s spirit, for he shared even the 
humblest task and seemed to glory 
in it. Then there were lessons, but 


35 


Happy Days 

the wonderful things Uncle Davie told 
them didn’t seem like lessons. He 
brought out his microscope ; showed 
them the bees and blossoms; and taught 
them the bird-songs. He told them 
beautiful stories of heroic deeds ; he 
read poetry to them. He gave Jamie 
a thin little book and said to him, 
“ Take a dip in this at the end of 
a furrow,” and plowing time grew 
golden, for the small book was “ The 
Man Without a Country.” He said to 
Patty : “ Here, dear, when you are 
tired, run out to the hammock and 
read a page or so of this.” The book 
was “ Alice in Wonderland.” 

“ Oh, Jamie ! ” said Patty, at the 
end of the third day, “ do pinch me 
and see if I’m awake ! ” 

« Gee, Patty ! ” Jamie’s eyes grew 


36 Uncle Davie’s Children 

dim, “ if mother could only see ! I’ve 
written her all about it, but it does 
seem as if you couldn’t believe any- 
one was as dandy as Uncle Davie, 
unless you really knew him.” 

“ He’s grand,” declared Patty, “ and 
Granny is just sweet ! It scares me 
now to think what if somebody else 
had chosen us and we had missed all 
this. I’m so glad, Jamie, I was taken 
with you, for I think you make a 
splendid brother.” 

“ Well, you are not bad for a girl, 
Patty!” Jamie laughed back at her. 
“Uncle Davie says he is going to teach 
us both to shoot and fish and swim 
right away ! ” 

Thursday afternoon Patty and 
Granny were sitting on the front 
porch, mending and chatting away like 


37 


Happy Days 

two happy wrens, when a wagon drove 
up and the driver called out, 

“ Is Mr. Marshall at home ? Here 
is the stuff he ordered.” 

“ It’s the surprise ! It’s the sur- 
prise, Jamie ! ” sang Patty, hippity- 
hopping out to the barn for Uncle 
Davie. And right then began a most 
beautiful time ! 

“ This is the new wall-paper for 
my niece’s room.” Apple-blossoms 
and daisies and dear little forget-me- 
nots flashed out at Patty from the 
roll he held out to her; but Jamie 
caught the roll just in time, for two 
slim arms were flung about Uncle 
Davie’s neck. 

“ Wait, wait,” chuckled Uncle 
Davie. “ Dear little girl, just wait ! 
One white bed is for your room, Patty, 


38 Uncle Davie’s Children 

and one is for Jamie. Patty is to have 
my mother’s mahogany dressing-table, 
and Jamie shall have the chest of 
drawers. Here are white curtains 
for the windows, and rugs for the 
floors. Here is a box of books to be 
divided between you, and I shall make 
you each a set of book-shelves. I 
want you each to have a pleasant 
place of your own, where you can be 
alone, to study, and think, and read. 
That is the way to grow brave and 
wise — to be quite alone with one’s 
own heart sometimes. This light rifle 
is for you, Jamie, but we will teach 
Patty to shoot at a mark. Here are 
jointed fishing-rods, one for each. 
This little work-basket, with its thimble 
and scissors, is for a little girl I know. 
The bat and ball are for my boy.” 


39 


Happy Days 

There was a box of clothing for 
Jamie, and it contained clothes for 
everyday and for Sunday. In another 
box were three frocks for Patty, a 
pink and a blue gingham, and a pretty 
white lawn, also a leghorn hat with a 
wreath that Patty said just matched 
her wall-paper. And for Granny there 
was black silk for a gown and a 
black bonnet with a bunch of violets 
on it. 

« Oh, Davie, Davie ! ” cried Granny, 
the tears running down her happy old 
cheeks, « my dear, you — you couldn’t 
afford it ! ” 

“ Tut, tut,” said Uncle Davie, giving 
her a merry kiss, “ not afford it ! 
Why, I’ve just come into a legacy. 
I’ve inherited a grandmother, a niece, 
and a nephew, all in one month. I’m 


40 Uncle Davie’s Children 

a rich man ! Don’t worry, Granny 
dear, it’s all right ! ” 

On Sunday Uncle Davie hitched up 
Rix and Dexter and took them all to 
church. Jamie was in his new suit, 
Patty in her white dress and her apple- 
blossom hat, and Granny wore her 
bonnet with the violets, even if her 
new dress wasn’t made yet. 

“ But we mustn’t be too proud, dear 
child,” said Granny, as Patty tied her 
bonnet strings under her chin. 

“ No’m, I’ll try not,” promised 
Patty, “ but I do hope Lina will be 
there to see.” 


CHAPTER V 


The Hawk Hunt 

To Patty it seemed as if the happy 
days at Uncle Davie’s house simply 
tumbled over each other, because they 
hurried on so. 

And Jamie sent fat letters across the 
sea filled with good news : 

“Uncle Davie is the best ever, 
Mother,” he wrote. “He says I have 
a good eye — I’m not bragging ; he 
said I was to tell you. I can plow al- 
most as straight a furrow as he can, 
and I can hit the bull’s eye at fifty yards 
with my new rifle, nine times in ten ; 
and last night I made bully pancakes 

for supper. Patty can shoot first rate, 
41 


42 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


for a girl, and she’s great at fishing. 
Every evening Uncle Davie teaches us 
out on the front porch. I’ve gained 
five pounds, and Patty ten — you’d 
hardly know her ! — and we’ve only 
been here eight weeks. 

“ If you were only here, it would be 
great ! But you can be sure of one 
thing, they don’t make them any better 
than Uncle Davie, and Granny, and our 
Patty. Uncle Davie says we are both 
to go to college when we know all he 
can teach us, but I guess that will 
take some time!” 

And after reading that letter, you 
can imagine how Jamie’s mother 
laughed, and cried, and kissed that 
boyish scrawl. Her boy was safe and 
happy, and her heart sang with thank- 
fulness. 


The Hawk Hunt 


43 


Yet, of course, no place is perfect, 
and no lot without trouble ; and the 
trouble at Uncle Davie’s began out in 
the chicken yard. Patty found it when 
she went out with a big panful of wet 
corn meal for the little chicks. 

“ Chickie-chick ! Chickie-chick ! ” 
she called as she opened the wire- 
netting door and let herself into the 
chicken yard. To her scuttled the 
whole flock, and yet at the first glance 
Patty saw that Blackie, the tamest, fat- 
test old hen of all, was missing, and, call 
as she would, Blackie came no more. 

“ It’s them plaguey chicken hawks,” 
said Granny when Patty went flying 
in to tell of Blackie’s disappearance. 
“We’ll have to get Davie after them.” 

But that very afternoon there was a 
dreadful squawking out in the chicken 


44 Uncle Davie’s Children 

yard, and when Patty got there poor 
little Doctor Dandy, her own pet ban- 
tam, was gone, and a great hawk was 
slowly circling off toward the moun- 
tain. Then Patty, for the first time 
since she had been with Uncle Davie, 
wept bitterly. 

Of course Uncle Davie did his best 
to comfort her, and promised to bring 
her a pair of pigeons from town that 
very day, and then added, to Jamie’s 

j°7 : 

“ I guess, laddie, you’d better take 
your rifle and go up into the woods 
and see if you can’t get that hawk ; 
we can’t spare any more chickens, for 
Patty’s heart will be broken. I’d go 
myself, but I must go to town on 
business. I think you’ll find the 
hawks up near the old quarry house. 


The Hawk Hunt 


45 


A pair nested there last year and they 
are apt to come back each year.” 

So off Jamie started with his rifle 
over his shoulder. Granny had tucked 
a little lunch in his jacket pocket, for 
she said he’d be sure to get hungry 
tramping, and she and Patty waved 
him good-by from the back door. 

Jamie loved the mountain trail. 
Up it went, over high rocks and ledges, 
on up among chestnuts, oaks, hickories, 
hemlocks, and beeches. 

“ Gee ! ” said Jamie, drawing a long 
breath as he looked down the valley 
to where the white farmhouses nestled, 
to where the gleaming river wound 
among the meadows, away, away, to 
where other mountains lost themselves 
in blue haze, « and to think two 
months ago I didn’t know there was 


46 Uncle Davie’s Children 

such a spot, nor an Uncle Davie in the 
whole world ! ” 

But the shrill cry of “ kee-you , kee- 
you ,” and a great flapping of wings 
just then reminded Jamie of the rifle 
on his shoulder. The hawks — there 
were two of them — had seen him if 
he hadn’t seen the hawks, and now 
far, now near, in great circles, they 
went and came with their shrill cry. 

It wasn’t so very far now to the old 
quarry house. Jamie could see it, a 
weather-beaten shack built on high 
corner posts that made it look as if it 
stood on stilts, down in the shallow 
pool that covered part of the old 
quarry. The front door opened on 
what Uncle Davie called “Joe Cole’s 
Flat,” where the mossy wood road 
trailed past. 


The Hawk Hunt 


47 


Up around the quarry side climbed 
Jamie ; away circled a hawk with its 
wheezy call, “ kee-you ! " — a long 
sweep down toward the brush ! — 
“ kee-you I ” — up and gone again, and 
a long wait — “ kee-you ! ” — and just 
then Jamie saw, quite a distance off 
among the tall bushes, a fleck of red- 
brown among the leaves — it moved ! 

Jamie sighted and blazed away, and 
then there rang out through the wood 
a terrible cry. Jamie, so happy a 
moment before, stood there stock-still, 
staring at that bit of brown that had 
pitched forward heavily ; the hawks 
wheeled away unnoticed — never again 
in his life did he hear that weird “ kee- 
you ” without a quickened breath, 
— and then he knew that he must see 
what lay there among the bushes. 


48 Uncle Davie’s Children 

A little girl lay there ! A little 
girl no older than Patty ! She lay 
stretched out behind the bushes as if 
she had fallen where she had hidden. 
The red-brown patch, so like in color 
to the shoulder of the hawk, at which 
Jamie had fired, was her straw hat. 
Her torn and faded dress was green, 
nearly the color of the bushes. She 
was very white, as she lay there, and 
very thin, and her long lashes looked 
black against her wan cheeks. Her 
hair was cut short, and her feet were 
bare, and scratched and bleeding from 
the briars. But nowhere did Jamie 
see the thing he had so dreaded — a 
stain of red ! The little girl might 
have been sleeping, but as he knelt 
there beside her she gave a little cry 
and slowly opened her eyes. 



“ 4 Where did I hit you?’ he begged.” 





CHAPTER VI 


At the Quarry 

“ Oh — oh ! ” gasped the little girl, 
looking up at Jamie in terror. « Oh, 
please don’t hurt me ! ” 

Jamie, kneeling there, was not a bit 
ashamed of the tears that ran down his 
cheeks. He was thinking of nothing 
but that she was alive, that she had 
opened her eyes and spoken. 

“Where — did I hit you?” he 
begged. “ Your dress was just the 
color of the bushes, — I saw your hat 
and I thought it was the hawk ! Oh, 
where did I shoot you ? ” 

« Shoot me ! ” and the brown eyes 

e 49 


50 Uncle Davie’s Children 

grew less terror-stricken. Who could 
be afraid of poor Jamie, kneeling there 
so humbly ? “I — I don’t know ! I 
had slept in that little house all night 
— and I was so weak — and afraid, I 
just stayed there until I heard some- 
body climbing up the quarry, and I 
thought they had come after me, but I 
found I couldn’t run for my feet hurt 
me so, and all I could do was to creep 
back here and hide. I shut my eyes, 
I guess, for I couldn’t bear to see who 
you were — it might have been her — 
and just then I heard an awful noise, 
and something sort of zipped, and I 
guess I must have fainted.” 

“ Oh,” cried Jamie, “and there is a 
hole through your hat ! Oh, I did al- 
most kill you ! It was my rifle you 
heard and the zip was my bullet ! ” 


5 1 


At the Quarry 

But the little girl did not seem to 
hear, for she suddenly moaned, 

“ Oh, I am so hungry and so thirsty ! 
I just can’t go any farther ! ” 

Then wasn’t Jamie thankful for the 
lunch Granny had put in his jacket 
pocket ! He lifted up the little girl, 
and set her with her back against a 
rock in the shade of a big pine. Then 
he opened his lunch and spread it out 
before her, and was off like a flash to 
the spring that trickled in the quarry, to 
bring her a drink in the old tin cup that 
he found there. Then Jamie brought 
her his handkerchief, wet at the spring, 
and, by and by, when she had bathed her 
face, and pushed back the elf-locks, she 
began to have a strangely familiar look. 

« Why, you are Lina ! ” cried Jamie. 
“You are Lina from Stubbs Home!” 


52 Uncle Davie’s Children 

To Jamie’s astonishment, weak as 
she was, she sprang to her feet. She 
tried to run, but stumbled and fell, 
and bursting into tears, she sobbed out, 
“ Oh, please don’t take me back ! ” 

“ Back to Stubbs Home ? ” asked 
perplexed Jamie. “Why, of course I 

9 . 9 9 

won t. 

“ No, no ! Don’t take me back 
to Miss Gill,” sobbed Lina. “ I — I 
ran away ! I had to work all day 
long, and I had to sleep up in the 
attic, and I was so afraid, for there 
were mice up there ! And she took 
away my white dress and my new hat, 
and gave them to her niece ! Oh, I 
did try so hard to please her, but I just 
couldn’t ! I had so little to eat, and I 
got so hungry and I took an apple 
— it was under a tree — I didn’t know 


53 


At the Quarry 

she would care, but she saw me, and 
she whipped me, and said I was a thief 
and that she was going to write to 
Doctor Stubbs and to Miss Pettigrew 
and tell them; and when I said then 
they would take me away she said she 
had adopted me and I’d have to stay 
with her forever and ever. She cut off 
my curls, for she said I’d have no time 
to comb them after that, as she always 
kept thieves busy ! Then she locked 
me in the carriage house, but I got out 
and ran away, and I’ve been gone 
three days. And I’m never going 
back, not if I die ! ” 

Jamie thought of Patty down at 
Uncle Davie’s. He thought of his 
own happy lot, and never in his life 
had he been so sorry for anyone as he 
was for Lina. 


54 Uncle Davie’s Children 

“ I don’t believe she has adopted 
you, Lina,” said Jamie, after a pause in 
which Lina had stilled her sobbing. 
“ I don’t think anyone can, until they 
have had one of us three months. I’m 
sure I heard Captain Kenneth tell my 
mother so.” 

« Us ! ” cried Lina in astonishment. 
“ You aren’t a Stubbs Home boy ! I 
never saw you before ! ” 

“Yes, you did!” said Jamie. 
“ Don’t you remember Captain Ken 
brought another boy along, who hadn’t 
been at Stubbs Home? I am Jamie 
Hall, and Mr. David Marshall took 
me, and he took Patty, too.” 

“ Patty ! ” cried Lina. “ I loved 
Patty best of any of the girls,” and 
again Lina was sobbing. 

“Listen, Lina,” begged Jamie, “and 


55 


At the Quarry 

please don’t cry. I’ll go down and 
get Patty and she’ll tell us what to 
do.” 

“ Oh, I’m so afraid to stay alone ! 
You don’t think Miss Gill will find me 
while you are gone, do you ? ” 

Jamie thought a minute. He knew 
that by this time the Gill woman 
would be much frightened over the 
disappearance of Lina. She would be 
frightened, too, for the sake of her own 
name and reputation in the neighbor- 
hood, especially as Doctor Stubbs did 
not give up the children entirely until 
after a three months’ trial. Miss Gill 
must be searching for her, and it 
seemed to Jamie as if the very first 
place she would look would be the 
old quarry house. He was really afraid 
to leave Lina alone there, and yet he 


56 Uncle Davie’s Children 

must get Patty to help plan, since 
Uncle Davie was not at home. 

When Jamie explained to Lina the 
danger of the quarry house as a hiding- 
place, she hobbled painfully with him 
to the quarry wall, and then crept 
down over the rocks to the ledge be- 
low, where Jamie knew of a great hol- 
low oak whose roots ran far out into 
the pool. 

“ There you are ! ” said Jamie 
cheerily, when he had gotten her set- 
tled comfortably in the oak, “ as snug 
as a bug in a rug, and now I’ll 
run down and get Patty. It will 
take quite a while, you know, but 
you mustn’t get worried and you 
mustn’t cry. Maybe you can sleep a 
bit.” 

Everything ready, he bade her good- 


57 


At the Quarry 

by, and with his rifle once more over 
his shoulder he hurried down the trail. 


Patty had baked a cake that morn- 
ing, a wonderful great cake, rich, spicy, 
and delicious. It stood upon the 
pantry shelf, with a little one baked 
from the left-over dough. And there 
were two cherry pies, and a saucer pie 
for Jamie, and a pan of buns. 

Then Patty, dressed in her new blue 
gingham, with her long braid tied with 
a big blue bow, sat in the hammock 
reading “ Alice in Wonderland,” and 
was blissfully happy. 

« Patty, Patty ! ” surely someone 
was calling her, “ Patty ! ” It was 
Jamie’s voice. 

« What’s the matter, Jamie ? What’s 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


58 

the matter ? ” cried Patty as Jamie 
came running toward her. 

“ Oh, Patty, we’ve got to hurry back 
or they might find her, and after I 
’most killed her — ” panted Jamie. 

“ Almost killed the hawk ? ” gasped 
Patty. “ Oh, Jamie, what is the 
matter ? ” 

“ No, no ! Wait till I get my 
breath and I’ll tell you.” Then ex- 
cited Jamie tried to begin at the be- 
ginning, but by the time he was half 
through Patty was on her feet, her eyes 
flashing one minute, the next, bright 
with tears. 

“Poor Lina! Oh, oh, Jamie, let’s 
run and tell Granny ! ” 

“But, Patty,” objected Jamie, “it 
will only worry Granny ! She can’t 
help. It is you Lina wants ! ” 


59 


At the Quarry 

Already Patty was halfway to the 
house. Granny was sitting asleep in 
her chair, and Patty only stopped to 
give a butterfly kiss to the very top 
bow of her cap. Then she flew into 
the pantry, took down a basket, put 
into it the little marble cake, the 
saucer pie, and some thick slices of 
bread and butter. Then up she ran to 
her room for her best pair of shoes and 
stockings, and she was ready. But 
back again she flew to write a bit of a 
note : 

“ Dear Granny : 

I’ve gone up the mountain with Jamie, 
and I took the little cake and pie. Don’t worry, 
I’ll be back soon. Patty.” 

This note she pinned to the corner 
of the table cover, right where Granny 
would see it the minute she opened 


6o 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


her eyes. Then at last out she ran to 
Jamie. 

“ What are we going to do ? ” 
begged Jamie, when he saw her com- 
ing. “ Lina said you would know.” 

“ Don’t stop to worry, we haven’t 
time,” said Patty, giving him the 
basket. “ Now let us hurry and I’ll 
explain as we go.” 


CHAPTER VII 


In the Hollow Tree 

When Jamie and Patty reached the 
quarry, they found Lina fast asleep 
in the hollow tree. 

How Patty kissed and cried over 
her pale, thin face, and her cropped 
curls ! Lina was too happy at finding 
herself safe in Patty’s arms to spend 
any more time in tears ; and when 
she had told her story all over to 
Patty, and been petted and soothed 
and comforted, she began to feel some 
hope of the future, and at last con- 
sented to go home with Jamie and 
Patty, and tell Uncle Davie and 
Granny all her troubles. 

61 


62 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


But when Patty had gotten her into 
shoes and stockings, they found to 
their dismay that Lina was far too 
weak and stiff even to climb out of 
the quarry, let alone go down the 
rough trail. 

“ Well, there is just nothing to do,” 
declared Jamie, when Lina sank back, 
white and faint, “ but to go and get 
Uncle Davie to come and carry her 
down.” 

“ Yes, Jamie, but Uncle Davie won’t 
be back until after ten o’clock to- 
night,” said Patty. 

“ Oh, Patty,” wailed Lina, clinging 
to Patty’s hand, “you won’t leave me! 
I can’t stay up here alone ! Oh, don’t 
leave me, Patty ! ” 

It would have taken a much harder 
heart than Patty’s to have refused Lina 


In the Hollow Tree 


6 3 

anything just then, and so it was 
settled that Jamie should go down and 
tell Granny and wait for Uncle Davie 
to come home, while Patty should stay 
with Lina. 

“ Now, Lina,” said Patty, when 
Jamie had disappeared down the trail, 
“ we’ll sit out here on the big rock, 
and if we hear anybody coming you 
can fly into the tree again, but we are 
not going to cry any more, and we are 
not going to worry, but we are going 
to have a perfectly beautiful time talk- 
ing till blessed Uncle Davie comes and 
gets us.” 

“ Oh, tell me all about Uncle Davie 
and Granny, Patty, do ! ” begged Lina, 
and so Patty told and told, just as if 
the sweetness would never get all 
poured out, and when she had finished, 


64 Uncle Davie’s Children 

Lina’s eyes were like stars, just hear- 
ing about it. “ Oh, Patty,” she fal- 
tered, “ I don’t expect Uncle Davie 
could take another little girl — not 
when he’s got Granny and Jamie, too. 
Miss Gill says it costs a lot to take 
folks in ! ” 

“ I — I know he’ll never let Miss 
Gill have you again,” said Patty slowly, 
but there was a queer pain in her 
heart, a sort of fear — a fear of herself. 
“ Not take another little girl ! ” She 
wished Lina had not said it. 

All in a minute Patty saw Lina 
hurrying around helping Granny ; Lina 
swinging in the hammock reading 
“ Alice in Wonderland ” ; Lina in her 
little room — her dear, dear little 
room ! Lina feeding the chickens ; 
fishing with Jamie; Lina with Uncle 


In the Hollow Tree 65 

Davie ! « Not another little girl ” — 

no ! there was room for only one. 
And then she looked at Lina’s wan 
face and thin hands. 

“Listen!” whispered Lina suddenly; 
then as fast as her poor stiff feet could 
carry her, she had crept away toward 
the hollow tree. “ Come quick, 
Patty, come quick ! ” she begged. 

Patty’s own quick ears had heard 
the sound of voices on the flat above 
— a low steady murmur, broken now 
and then by a shrill voice. 

« Come, Patty, come ! ” pleaded 
Lina, cowering down in the hollow tree. 

But Patty was whispering : 

“There isn’t room for us both in 
there, Lina dear, and besides I haven’t 
time now, but just you keep as still 


as a mouse. 


66 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


As Miss Gill and her sister, warm, 
tired, and very much troubled, came 
out into the open wood road before 
the old quarry house, the first thing they 
saw was Patty sitting quietly on the 
big rock in the quarry below, her 
hands clasped about her knees, her 
eyes fixed upon the far hazy mountains 
across the valley. 

“ It’s her ! ” cried Mrs. Hicks. 

“ No, it ain’t ! ” panted Miss Gill. 
“ But I’ll bet she knows where she is ! 
Hi, little girl, hi there ! ” she called, 
“ did you see anything of a runaway 
girl in a green dress and a brown hat ? ” 
“ What did you say ? ” asked Patty 
to give herself time, for her heart was 
going like a trip-hammer, but she 
must be brave and wise for Lina’s 
sake. 


In the Hollow Tree 


67 

“ Did you see anything of a little 
girl that had run away from home ? ” 
asked Mrs. Hicks blandly. 

“ A little girl ? ” asked Patty, turn- 
ing again to look at the mountain. 
“ Was she your little girl ? ” 

“ I don’t see what’s that to you,” 
blustered Miss Gill, u but anyway she’s 
run off, and got me into a peck of 
trouble.” 

« Hush, Matty, hush ! ” ordered her 
sister under her breath. « Say, little 
girl, did you see anything of her ? 
You see it is very important we should 
find Lina and — ” 

« Lina ! ” broke in Patty eagerly. 
« Do you mean the little girl with 
long curls and very pink cheeks that 
Captain Kenneth brought here from 
Stubbs Home ? She — was Miss 


68 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


Pettigrew’s favorite, and Doctor 
Stubbs would be awfully mad if 
anything happened to Lina ! Why 
— why, she couldn’t have been your 
little girl, for I came with Captain 
Kenneth, too, and Mr. David Marshall 
took me, and he can’t adopt me for 
three months after he has proved that 
he has been very good to me. But 
Uncle Davie is good ! Oh, he has 
been perfectly lovely ! ” 

At the very first mention of Stubbs 
Home Miss Gill turned pale ; but 
when Patty spoke of David Marshall 
she could hide her dismay no longer. 

“ My mercy ! ” she gasped. 

“You have done it, Matty Gill!” 
cried her sister. « What did I say ? 
Get David Marshall on your track for 
abusing a child and you are in for it ! ” 


In the Hollow Tree 


69 


Miss Gill stayed to hear no more 
but turned and ran back along the 
wood road, her scolding sister hurry- 
ing after. 


CHAPTER VIII 


Patty’s Decision 

« It’s just beautiful up here, isn’t 
it ? ” asked Patty, smoothing back Lina’s 
soft locks. Patty had made Lina 
comfortable on the big rock by the 
hollow tree. Night had come, and 
the soft wind was whispering through 
the great trees about them. Below 
lay the valley dimly seen by the faint 
new moon, and wherever a farmhouse 
nestled, a little star of light shone from 
the window, but to Patty one star was 
a planet — the star of home. 

“ It’s pretty, but it’s awfully lonely, 
Patty,” sighed Lina. “You aren’t 
scared, are you ? ” 

“I’m not now,” laughed Patty. 


70 


7 1 


Patty’s Decision 

“ But when I was talking to Miss Gill 
I expect you could have heard my 
heart beat if you had listened.” 

“ You didn’t seem scared a bit, 
Patty. Oh, Patty, I will never forget 
it as long as I live, and I just love 
you ! ” 

“ There, there ! ” crooned Patty. 
“ Now don’t you cry any more. Oh, 
Lina, there comes Uncle Davie and 
Jamie ! I saw a weeny-teeny light, 
just that minute, swinging down our 
lane. It’s Uncle Davie’s lantern, as 
sure as anything ! ” 

There came that golden gleam up 
and up the trail, sometimes hidden, 
but only to brighten when it appeared 
again, and then, at last — oh, happy 
sound — there was Uncle Davie’s 
hearty, 


7 2 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


“ Ho, my little lassies ! ho ! Where 
are you ? ” 

Then up they climbed, Uncle Davie 
and Jamie. 

But Uncle Davie looked grave 
enough when he saw Lina’s wan face, 
and his brown eyes flashed with some- 
thing very different from their usual 
merry twinkle when Patty told him of 
Miss Gill’s coming. 

“ Gee, Patty, you’re all right ! ” cried 
Jamie. “Isn’t she brave — for a girl, 
Uncle Davie ? ” 

“Yes, our Patty has a brave heart and 
a quick wit, and it’s very proud of her 
her old uncle is this night,” said Uncle 
Davie, as he knotted the blanket he 
had brought into a sort of hammock. 
“We won’t have any more trouble 
with Miss Gill, I’m sure. She will be 


73 


Patty’s Decision 

too glad if we only hold our tongues. 
Now, little lady, if you will kindly take 
your seat in your sedan chair, we’ll 
trot down the hill to Granny.” 

“ Dear me, dear me ! ” called 
Granny. She stood in the open door- 
way, the cheery kitchen alight behind 
her, as they came in the barnyard 
gate. “ I heard my children coming 
away up the mountainside. Have you 
got the little girl all right, Davie ? 
I’ve got a nice bath ready for her 
in the spare room and some of Patty’s 
things laid out, and we’ll give her 
her supper and put her to bed, poor 
darlin’.” 

« Bless the child ! ” cried Granny, 
when Uncle Davie had unslung the 
hammock and set Lina down in the 
big rocking-chair. “ Her eyes are like 


74 Uncle Davie’s Children 

moons in her bit of a face ! And such 
a way to cut hair ! Never mind, 
dearie, Granny knows how to shingle 
hair, and we’ll have a crop of short 
curls on that head, and some flesh on 
those bones, and some color in those 
cheeks, before the month is out ! 
You’ll see!” 

Then away bustled everybody to 
make their little guest comfortable, 
and it wasn’t very long before Lina, 
sweet and clean and happy, in one of 
Patty’s new nightdresses, was tucked 
away in the big spare bed. 

“ Good night, little daughter,” said 
Granny, with a last kiss, “ say your 
prayers and go to sleep. Happy days 
are cornin’ soon.” 

“ Good night, Lina ! ” said Patty. 

" Good night, Patty dear ! ” and 


75 


Patty’s Decision 

Lina pulled her down to whisper, “ Oh, 
Patty, it’s a hundred thousand times 
nicer than you said ! Oh, do you 
think Uncle Davie could keep another 
little girl ? ” 

“ I think he’ll keep you,” faltered 
Patty, “ I’m going to ask him ! ” 

Patty stopped on the back stairs, to 
wipe away the tears that would come. 
“ You are a great big cry baby,” she 
whispered angrily to herself. “ Haven’t 
you had this beautiful time to remem- 
ber ? Now you go down and be 
happy or — or I’ll shake you — do you 
hear ? ” and with that she opened the 
stair door and sprang into the kitchen 
with a gay : “ Oh, aren’t you ’most 
starved, Uncle Davie ? ” 

« Run, Patty dear, and get your sur- 
prise,” said Granny. “ I’ve made a 


y6 Uncle Davie’s Children 

place for it right here in the middle 
of the table.” 

“Well — well — well ! ” gasped 
Uncle Davie, when Patty came proudly 
in, bearing the great cake on its high 
glass stand and stood it in the middle 
of the table, “ Well, that is a cake ! 
And did my little girl make that ? ” 

« Three cheers for the cake baker ! ” 
cried Jamie, capering about the table. 

“ Don’t be so good to me ! ” burst 
out Patty. “ Don’t make me so happy, 
or my heart will break 1 ” 

“ Eh ? ” cried Granny, “ eh ? My 
dearie, as if anybody could be too good 
to our Patty ! ” 

“Our Patty has been over-wrought 
to-day,” said Uncle Davie, brushing the 
flying hair from Patty’s face, and tip- 
ping it back that he might look into 


77 


Patty’s Decision 

the misty eyes. “Tears and laughter 
— our little April girl! You’re tired, 
dear, and you need your supper. Cut 
the beautiful cake, lady-bird, and don’t 
cry.” 

“ Now, something is up with our 
Patty,” said Jamie to himself as he 
tumbled into bed, “ I wonder what it 


CHAPTER IX 
Up in the Attic 

The next day Lina wasn’t able to 
lift her weary little head. Indeed, it 
was a whole week before Uncle Davie 
carried her down to the hammock 
under the big maple tree, and before 
the doctor’s old buggy went jogging 
past instead of stopping at the little 
Dutch farmhouse. 

Uncle Davie had sent Jamie over 
to Miss Gill with a note, telling her 
that Lina was ill, but safe under his 
roof, and that all he asked was that 
she should never take another child 
into her home. 

Even after Lina was up, poor child, 

78 


79 


Up in the Attic 

she seemed weak and listless, and, 
indeed, as Granny told Uncle Davie, 
Lina was never going to take the 
interest in *the housework that Patty 

did. 

“ ’Taint in her, Davie, so you can’t 
expect it. She sings like a bird. 
Never did I hear a sweeter voice ! 
And pretty ! Why, she gets more 
like a little rose every day. But Patty 
now — our Patty — she’s pretty in 
another way, just sort of ripples like 
the river, our Patty does ; an’* learn ! 
And sweet — and good ! ” 

Then Uncle Davie laughed, and 
told her she was a ridiculous granny, 
that all her geese were swans ; he 
supposed that Jamie, now — 

“ Oh, our Jamie ! ” broke in Granny, 
not letting him finish, “ never was a 


80 Uncle Davie’s Children 

dearer or a nicer boy than our Jamie ! 
He is goin’ to be a doctor. Jamie 
and I settled that the other day while 
he was waterin’ the doctor’s horse. 
Says I, ‘Jamie, you’ll be a doctor.’ 
Says Jamie, ‘ I will, and I’ll tell mother 
the next time I write.’ ” 

Of course, helping Granny, being 
with Lina, studying with Uncle Davie, 
and trotting around with Jamie, Patty 
hadn’t had time to worry, though 
every day the time for Captain 
Kenneth’s return to take back the 
unwanted children came nearer. 

Lina seemed to take it for granted, 
since Patty had promised to ask Uncle 
Davie, that she was to stay right 
on ; but, so far, Patty had never 
been able to get up her courage to say 
what she meant to say to Uncle Davie. 


8i 


Up in the Attic 

Uncle Davie had been very busy 
with the carpenter, making another 
room off the big attic ; and then one 
rainy day, he, with Jamie to help, had 
moved all the furniture from his 
own room into it. Patty had been 
helping, too, carrying up Uncle Davie’s 
books, his pictures, and his old violin. 

Everything was settled in Uncle 
Davie’s new room by three o’clock that 
afternoon. It was a charming room, 
they all agreed, with its dormer win- 
dows looking toward the mountain. 

“But we mustn’t sit here idle,” cried 
Uncle Davie springing up. “ Here, 
Jamie, help me carry down this long 
board, please. Granny and Lina are 
making paste for me and we’ll slap on 
this new wall paper in a joyous jiffy. 
Do you think she’ll like it, Patty ? ” 

o 


82 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


And again Uncle Davie held up a 
roll of dainty paper for Patty and 
Jamie to see. This time there were 
wreaths of pink roses caught with little 
green vines. 

“ Oh, oh, it’s lovely ! ” gasped Patty. 
“ Who do you want to like it ? ” 

“ Why, Lina, of course,” said Uncle 
Davie, looking at Patty in astonish- 
ment, for she had grown very white 
and had sat down suddenly in his 
big chair. “ Why, my little girl ! I 
couldn’t let Lina go back. You 
wouldn’t want me to do that ? ” 

“No — no — no /” burst out Patty. 
“But I thought you could give her 
my room.” 

“ Your little room that you love so 
much ? ” Uncle Davie looked more 
perplexed than ever. 


Up in the Attic 83 

“ So that is what has been the 
matter, Patty ! ” broke in Jamie. 

“Well, I may be stupid, sonny,” 
laughed Uncle Davie, “but bless me 
if I can see what is the matter with 
either of you ! 

“ Oh, Uncle Davie,” cried Patty, 
running to throw her arms about him, 
“Jamie and I cost a lot and I didn’t 
see how you could take anybody else. 
But when I saw how ill Lina was, 
and how she dreaded going back — it 
’most broke my heart, so I was going 
to ask you to send me back with 
Captain Ken, so that Lina could stay 
with you. Oh, you don’t think it was 
because I didn’t love my home, and 
you, and Granny, and Jamie ? Oh, 
I couldn't love you all any more, 
but I’m strong and well, and I 


8 4 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


would have had this happy time to 
remember ! ” 

« Listen to her, Jamie ! ” chuckled 
Uncle Davie, holding her very dose. 
“Just think of us giving up our Patty! 
Never to see her laughing and crying 
all in a minute ! Never to see her 
helpful little hands making everybody 
comfortable and glad! Never to 
hear her willing feet flying about on 
joyful, unselfish errands ! Never to 
feel these loving, grateful little arms 
about us any more ! Never to look 
into this laughing, pretty — yes, 
Patty — this pretty little face again ! 
Jamie, what do you think Granny 
would say if I sent our Patty back ? ” 

“Patty dear, where are you, little 
daughter ? ” came Granny’s quavering 
call up the attic stairs. 


Up in the Attic 85 

“ Coming, Granny dear ! ” and Patty, 
all tears and smiles, flew away toward 
the stairs, but once there she turned, 
and looking back said breathlessly : 

“ I never, never dreamed you all 
loved me that way, Uncle Davie ! I 
wouldn’t have dared dream such a 
beautiful thing. But now that I do 
know it, you’ll never get rid of me ! 
I’m so glad you are going to keep 
Lina — but — oh, I’m so glad it seems as 
if I’d die — that you’re going to keep 
me, too ! I just love to hear you say 
‘ our Patty ’ ! ” 

“ The very idea of the child’s 
thinking I’d send her back,” mused 
Uncle Davie. “ Why, lad, I’d 
just as soon think of sending you 
back ! ” 

At that Jamie grinned but his eyes 


86 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


grew misty. “ Gee, Uncle Davie,” he 
said, as he gathered up the rolls of 
paper, « I just wish mother knew you 
and Granny ! ” 


CHAPTER X 


A Visitor 

Everything was going beautifully at 
Uncle Davie’s house. Now that Lina 
was quite well again, and settled in her 
own pretty room, with her own place 
in everyone’s heart, life flowed on, with 
duty and pleasure, study and fun, mixed 
in just the way that Uncle Davie be- 
lieved best. 

And all the time, September twelfth, 
the day of Captain Kenneth’s return, 
drew nearer. Uncle Davie had written 
and invited him to the farmhouse, 
much to Patty’s and Lina’s delight. 

As the adoption papers for the children 
87 


88 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


he had brought were to be made out, 
he would need to be there several days, 
and Patty and Lina had a beautiful 
time getting the spare room ready, fill- 
ing the pantry with good things, and 
the house with flowers, for they wanted 
dear Captain Ken to see their new 
home at its very best. 

But upon that fateful day, when 
Uncle Davie, who had gone to town 
with the spring wagon to meet their 
guest, drove up to the front gate, it 
was not Captain Ken who sat beside 
him. 

“ Oh, mercy me I ” gasped Patty. 

“ Oh, goodness ! ” whispered Lina. 

“ Who ever is it ? ” asked Granny 
anxiously. They were all out on the 
front porch. 

“Sh! sh! ” said Patty. “ It’s Doctor 


A Visitor 89 

Stubbs, Granny, and I never knew of 
his leaving Stubbs Home before I ” 

But if Patty was surprised to see 
him, she was still more surprised at his 
greeting. If she had been his long lost 
little daughter, he couldn’t have been 
more delighted to see her, nor have 
spoken to her more tenderly. “ My 
dear child ! ” he said, holding her slim 
little hand very close, “ Miss Pettigrew 
sends you her love and longs to see 
you.” But Lina — why, Doctor 
Stubbs scarcely seemed to see her at 
all! 

An hour later, Patty was standing at 
the kitchen sink paring potatoes for 
dinner, when a voice at the window 
said, 

« That is unpleasant work for those 
pretty hands, my child, but all that 


90 Uncle Davie’s Children 

will soon be changed.” And there, 
just outside the window, stood Doctor 
Stubbs looking in at her, his beard 
wagging on his chin in the way that 
had always made her want to laugh, 
but the look in his eyes had never been 
fatherly and kind in those days as it 
was now. 

“ Oh,” said Patty, feeling so secure 
and happy as Uncle Davie’s little girl 
— for wasn’t she to be adopted that 
very day to be Patty Marshall all the 
rest of her life ? — “ Oh, I just love 
paring potatoes, when they are pinky- 
brown like these.” 

“ Directly after dinner I must go to 
town,” said the Doctor, « but this even- 
ing I want to have a long talk with 
you. I have some astonishing — some 
wonderful news for you, Patty ! ” 


A Visitor 


9 1 


But just then he turned away, as 
Uncle Davie was coming up the walk, 
and the minute Patty saw him she 
knew that he was much troubled. 

“ Patty,” he said, “Jamie will take 
Doctor Stubbs to town right after din- 
ner, and then I want you to come to 
me in the parlor as I have something 
to tell you.” 

Patty loved the comfortable and cozy 
old parlor, and she loved, too, being 
alone there with Uncle Davie to talk 
over important things. So far, she 
hadn’t worried a bit. Whatever was 
wrong Uncle Davie would make right 
— of that she was sure. 

« Patty,” said Uncle Davie, when 
she had taken her favorite seat on a 
little stool at his feet, “ you know you 
told me that first night you came that 


92 Uncle Davie’s Children 

you had been left, a little baby, on the 
steps of a church. Well, last week 
Doctor Stubbs was sent for in great 
haste to see a dying man — and, my 
dear,” Uncle Davie took both her hands 
in his, « that man was your uncle, your 
mother’s brother.” 

“ Oh ! ” gasped Patty. 

“ Your father and mother had 
married much against your grand- 
father’s wishes,” went on Uncle Davie, 
“ indeed, he never saw your mother 
again, although she was his only 
daughter. But when she and your 
father died, your uncle never told 
your grandfather that they had left a 
little child, because, dear, there was a 
great fortune that should have been 
yours, and that would be his if there 
were no little Patty. As wicked as 


A Visitor 


93 


he was, however, he couldn’t quite 
give you up, and so your mother’s 
wedding ring and your name, Patty, 
were put in the little bag, that there 
might be some clew. Nor did he ever 
lose sight of you. We must give him 
credit for that. He knew you were 
at Stubbs Home, and when he found 
himself dying — your grandfather died 
several years ago — he sent for Doctor 
Stubbs and confessed to him the whole 
story.” 

“ Oh, Uncle Davie,” cried Patty, 
« please tell me my name ! And 
haven’t I anybody left at all? Not 
a single soul ? ” 

« No one, Patty ! In that way you 
are not changed at all; but now you 
are Patty Irwin, and, my dear, such a 
very rich little girl ! ” 


94 Uncle Davie’s Children 

“ Patty — Irwin ! ” said she slowly. 
“ How funny it sounds ! I don’t like 
it nearly so well as Patty Marshall. 
Oh, Uncle Davie ! ” she cried suddenly, 
« please, I’d rather be your little 
girl ! I don’t feel one bit acquainted 
with myself! Mayn’t I be Patty 
Marshall? Can’t you adopt me just 
the same ? ” 

“ Now that is the trouble, dear,” 
said Uncle Davie. “Your uncle left a 
will which says that you are to choose 
your own guardian and your own 
home, but once chosen you must stay 
with that guardian until you are of 
age. You see, dear, you can study 
and travel and have beautiful things. 
Oh, my child, I must make you under- 
stand, for it is a great thing you are to 
decide. My home is right here, Patty, 


A Visitor 


95 


with Jamie, and Granny, and Lina, 
nothing can alter that. If you do 
as Doctor Stubbs wishes, and he be- 
comes your guardian, you can — ” 

“ So that's it ! ” cried Patty. « So 
that’s the reason Doctor Stubbs was so 
lovely to me ! ” 

“ Listen, dear ! you must not be 
unjust. You would not go back as 
an inmate of Stubbs Home. He 
wants you to come and be a member 
of his own family.” 

Uncle Davie faltered, for Patty’s 
eyes were growing wider and wider. 

“And you said I may choose for 
myself? ” 

« Yes, dear, no one can force you.” 

Then suddenly Patty flung herself 
into Uncle Davie’s arms, laughing and 
crying all in a breath. 


96 Uncle Davie’s Children 

“Just as if it would take me one 
minute! Just as if I’d ever be any- 
thing in all this wide world but 
Uncle Davie’s Patty!” 


CHAPTER XI 


Patty’s Plans 

Op course, it wasn’t quite so easy as 
Patty had hoped. Doctor Stubbs was 
at first patient, then persistent, and 
then angry, as he explained the great 
advantages she would have in living 
with him, and the dreadful mistake she 
was making in choosing that simple 
country home. But at last even 
Doctor Stubbs was forced to give up, 
because Patty, leaving a little note for 
Uncle Davie, slipped away up the 
mountain. 

She had a beautiful time up there, 
sitting on a big rock that gave her a 
good view of the old farmhouse below, 
dreaming the most wonderful dreams, 

H 97 


gS Uncle Davie’s Children 

It was so charming to count on her 
finger-tips and say : “ And that’s for 
Uncle Davie — this for Granny — and 
Lina shall have this and Jamie that,” 
and to know that her dreams could 
come true ! 

Then it was so wonderful to know 
to whom she had belonged, even if her 
father and mother should always seem 
unreal and shadowy, yet she loved 
them, and they had loved her, and she 
had had a name, and people, and a 
home like other little girls. That 
was such a comfort. But, most raptur- 
ous of all, now she should always be 
Uncle Davie’s little girl, and not a bur- 
den, and, oh, such delightful things as 
she should make come true ! 

You can imagine what a happy girl 
Patty was, when at last she saw Jamie 


99 


Patty’s Plans 

driving off to take Doctor Stubbs to 
the station, and with what joy she flew 
down to help Granny and Lina put 
things to rights ; and her delight to 
feel the dear peace of home settle down 
again. 

That night, when they were all 
together, out on the little porch, 
Granny, and Uncle Davie, and his 
children, sitting there, in the quiet, 
looking across the singing river, across 
the meadow to where Overlook Moun- 
tain dreamed in the dusk — Patty 
could keep silent no longer. 

“ Oh, my dears, I had the most 
beautiful time up on the mountain ! 
I planned out everything ! Do you 
want to hear ? ” she asked. 

“ You bet we do ! ” cried Jamie. 

“ Oh, Patty, how lovely ! ” exclaimed 


IOO 


Uncle Davie’s Children 


Lina, “ and do you think it will all 
come true ? ” 

“ Dear heart ! ” sighed Granny, « as 
if dreams ever did come true ! But I 
am sure Patty’s ought to ! ” 

“ Yours shall, Patty,” promised 
Uncle Davie, “if I can make them.” 

“ Well, then,” said Patty, “ it begins 
like this : I’m going to study and try 
to learn, and be nice, and good, and 
do all you tell me ! Then when I get 
grown up, the very minute I come 
into my money, I’m going to build a 
beautiful house over there in the 
meadow — a great big house with wide 
verandas, all sunny and bright, and 
filled with cheerful, pretty things.” 

“ Why, I thought you loved this old 
farmhouse I ” broke in Jamie. “ It’s 
good enough for me ! ” 


IOI 


Patty’s Plans 

“Now you listen, Jamie! ” begged 
Patty. “ The big house shall be called 
‘ Uncle Davie’s Home,’ and in it shall 
live many, many little orphan children, 
and Captain Kenneth shall be manager, 
and Jamie’s mother matron — I know 
she’ll make a lovely mother for them 
— and Jamie, who’ll be grown up 
then, shall be the doctor, and make all 
the sick ones well, and the lame ones 
walk again. Lina shall go away and 
study music, and get to be a great 
singer, and she’ll come back, and sing 
lovely songs to the children, and tell 
them about when she was a little girl 
at Stubbs Home ! Uncle Davie shall 
have books and books, and everything 
he wants, and he will love all the chil- 
dren, and talk to them, and teach them 
as he does us. Granny shall wear a 


102 Uncle Davie’s Children 

white dress every day, and have pink 
bows on her caps, and she shall have a 
whole hothouse full of flowers — and 
all the children shall think she is sweet! 
We’ll have a shiny new carriage — and, 
oh, yes, a perfectly lovely long ’bus for 
the children to go riding in every fine 
day — and — they shall have swings 
— and a pony and dogs and kittens to 
love — and chickens — and I’ll give 
Doctor Stubbs a gold-headed cane ! ” 

“ Hear, hear ! ” laughed Uncle 
Davie. “ But I’m wondering where 
Patty’s coming in. What are you go- 
ing to do while Lina is singing, and 
Jamie’s doctoring, Granny wearing 
pink bows, and I reading ? Won’t you 
be a little lonely ? ” 

“ Why, of course not,” cried Patty, 
“for I’m going to live right here with 


Patty’s Plans 103 

you and Granny. There’ll be Lina 
coming home, and there’ll be Jamie 
and his mother over at ‘Uncle Davie’s 
Home,’ and all those children to be 
helped to have a good time — besides, 
oh Lina ! — I want you to have a pink 
dress and a big white hat with a wreath 
of roses on it ! ” 

“ Oh, Patty,” cried Lina, throwing 
her arms about her, “ you are the dear- 
est, best girl that ever lived ! — and oh, 
I will study, and I will sing, and we’ll 
make ‘Uncle Davie’s Home’ the love- 
liest place in the world ! ” 

« I shall have a big cooky crock, and 
another for ginger cakes, and see that 
they are never empty,” mused Granny, 
“ so all the little folks can run in to 
Granny when they get hungry.” 

« Dear, dear,” chuckled Jamie, “ I 


104 Uncle Davie’s Children 

tell you I’ll have to make those kids 
stand around, with mother, and Uncle 
Davie, and Granny, and Patty to spoil 
them, and Lina busy singing. I’ll be 
the only one left to see to the dis- 
cipline.” 

“Mercy on us!” protested Uncle 
Davie, « don’t build that house to- 
night, my dears ! First, Patty said we 
were to be good, and study, and grow 
up ; that will take a good deal of 
time.” 

“Yes — yes,” broke in Granny, “ and 
we ought to begin by gettin’ good 
sleep. But that was a beautiful dream, 
Patty, the prettiest I ever heard, and I 
do wish it would come true.” 

The most wonderful thing about 
Patty’s plans was that, with Uncle 
Davie’s help, she worked them all out. 


Patty’s Plans 105 

and so her dream did come true ! 
There to-day, by the bend of the river, 
is still the little white farmhouse, and 
the old red mill, but there, too, in the 
grassy meadow, stands a cheerful white 
house, with wide verandas and sunny 
windows, and over the gateway one 
reads in gold letters : 

“ UNCLE DAVIE’S HOME ” 


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